Norwegian Money

I was trying to decide about what to talk about, as I haven't blogged in awhile.  Then the idea of blogging about their money came to mind, as it was one of the things that originally interested me. Having lived in both the USA, Canada, and now Norway, I have had to understand a lot of different money systems.  Major thing about going from Canada to USA, was the use of the 1 dollar bill, and the annoyance of waiting for customers to write cheques.  I seriously laughed the first time I saw someone write a cheque at wal-mart, then to my surprise the next person did to. Now while all this sounds like a pain, it was easy to get used to once you develop patience for people writing cheques. The conversion was also great because for most of my stay in the USA, the dollar was equal.

Then I come to Norway.  If I was to rank the money in uniqueness, It would go USA <----> Canada <------> Norway.  This meaning that Canada shares some of the factors from each currency, and U.S, and Norwegian currency are quite different. First of all, it is no longer called a dollar, but everything is measured in Kroner.  Secondly, the conversion is not quite as easy, but a general rule of thumb is to divide everything by 6. The coins vary from .50 ore (apparently may soon be gone from Norwegian change), 1 kroner, 5 kroner, 10 kroner, 20 kroner. This means that there largest coin would be worth 3.48.  The notes/bills come in 1000 Kroner, 500 Kroner, 200 Kroner, 100 Krone, and 50 Krone note.  What is also interesting about the notes is that they are different sizes.  Here is a picture of the 5 different notes, and I put a 5 dollar Canadian Bill beside them so you can compare the size.  The 5 dollars bill is smaller then the 500, but larger than the 200.  Also, there is a loonie above the coins, to compare the size as well.

Norwegians typically pay with a credit card/debit card first, then cash.  There is no such thing as cheques in Norway, and cash is rarely used.  If you go to the bar and order a drink at a club, or you take a taxi, you still have the option to use your card.  The system seems to be incredibly quick, and a lot more user friendly then the machines in Canada/USA.  All you do is slip in the card, then enter your pin and voila, the process is done.  I guess it helps that the debit/checking option isn't an option, and that there is no tip(that I have seen at least).  I like the Norwegian system a lot, but since I am not allowed to have a bank account, I have definitely collected a lot of coins, which can be annoying.  Hope you enjoyed this bit on their money, if you have any questions, please leave comments and I would be happy to answer them!